Improvement in ore-feeders



vUNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoEvc CHARLES P. STANFORD, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ORE-FEEDERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 167,625, dated September 14, 1875 i application iiled May 1, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OHARLEs P. STANFORD, of San Francisco, State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ore- Feeders forr Stamp-Mills, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to automatic ore-feeders for stamp-mills that are actuated by the movements of the stamp-stem, and caused to feed a certain quantity of ore from a hopper to the stamps at proper intervals. lt consists ofan oscillating feeder, having a bottom of curved form, supported by bearings in a suitable frame-work in front of the hopper, and caused to vibrate 4in the arc of a circle toward and away from the stamp, the vibratory movement being produced by the fall of the stamp-stem, and made to deliver a certain quantity of ore at each movement backward from the stamps.

The object of my invention is to produce an automatic feeder that shall operate to feed ore to the stamps in a better manner than has been done heretofore, and to make a stronger and more substantialapparatus with a small amount of material, and without any complicated mechanism to produce the required vibrations, as will be fully described hereafter.

The accompanying drawing shows, in Figure' 1, a side elevation of an ore-hopper with my oscillating feeder in front of it, in position to deliver the ore to the stamps when it is vibrated or thrown back by the movement of the stem.

The hopper A has its mouth contracted where it enters between the sides of the feeder B, and its rear side at this part has a curved form corresponding to the curve 'of the feeder bottom. Thus a continuous curved surface is produced from the inclined side of the hopper to the front of the feeder, which facilitates the descent of the ore, and prevents any choking in the mouth of the hopper. This curve of the feeder bottom is formed on an arc of a circle,

the center of which is at or near the pivots or bearings b that support the feeder, and the front end of the feeder projects beyond the line of the bearingsand toward the stampstem sufficiently to keep upon the feeder the ore that yis falling from the hopper, and to pre- Vent any of it dropping off the end of the feeder while it occupies its forward position, as shown in Fig. l. This front end is made straight, asv shown, the better to deliver the ore, or allow it to drop from it into the pan beneath the stamp when the feeder is actuated by the stamp-stem. This form of the feeder and the manner of hanging it tends to throw the front end toward the stamp-stem, as the weight of the ore upon itincreases, the force of gravity causing the feeder to take the posicontents beneath the line ofthe bearings b, and its position forward toward the stamp is regulated by the stop c, which prevents any motion of the feeder beyond a certain point. Its vibration, or motion backward from this position, is produced bythe action ofthe collar d of the stamp-stem in striking upon the top of the tappet-rod D, that projects from the side ofthe feeder, the part of the feeder to which this rod is secured being extended out from the feeder nearly in a horizontal plane with the bearings or pivots b, and at right angles to the vertical face or front of the feeder. Thus a sufcient leverage is obtained to cause the feeder to be thrown backward'as the stampstem falls and strikes the rod D, and to move it beneath the body of ore lying o n the curved bottom. Thus the feeder is moved in one direction by the action of the stamp-stem, but returns to its normal position after each movement, by virtue of its own weight, without the use of springs, and it also works without raising or lifting any weight of4 the ore upon it. This movement of the feeder'ha's the effect of the front end of the feeder at each backward movement by causing the ore upon thevcurved bottom to gravitate forward as the feeder is thrown backward beneath it. Thus the action of the collarand the tappet-rod is to throw the feeder backward, and from under the ore,

its weight, moves forward as thefeeder bottom is moved backward beneath it, and causes a quantity of ore to drop off the end of the feeder. The curved bottom of the feederk facilitates this action, and causes the ore to feed itself down from the hopper in a regular manner to supply the place of that thrown off to the stamps. y,

tion that will bring the greatest part of its causing a certain quantity of ore to drop' from l which, by virtue 'of the inclined surface and of 2 d V l 67,625

the stamp-stem, and, consequently when the stamp has a sufcient quantity of ore ybeneath y it, the stem will not fall far enough to actuate L the tappetfrod and feed the fore fromthe 1Ahopper, and no, Vibration of the feeder will take place until the stampstem Ydrops low enough to permitthe collar''to 'strike the tappet-rod D. But the distance between the.

collar d and the end of the tappet-rodl can be regulated'by changing "the ength of the rod,i which is furnished with a screw-thread upon the lower end that works in a socket, e, as.

shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. Thus the Ffeed fm'aybe caused "to operate 'sooner `for'later during-theffall-'df the-stamp-"stem, by making` ithe tappeti-rod longer or"s`horter, `fand ftheg 'quantity or :the frequency of the ieedingfmo- `g y -f "cide'with then-curve =o'f :the feederbottolnffor `tionof Hthe 'feeder iis thus 'regulated `Fig. Ziof ithedrawing shows'a wertica'l -secl. tion of 'the `hopperand oscillating 1feeder, and falso 'representa `in `the 'full andldottedlines, "fthe twofpos'itions fof the feeder, Yboth fforward :and backward. i y

Inthis `form-lof feeder the "weight ofthelore` `is supported `directly upon fthe p'ivots-bfand theselmayfbe Lformed-of` a `"conti-numas -wod `'eic-` tending acrossthe "feeder 1land projecting `on each iside *farlenoughto allowthe ends to work "inproper bearings, "and lthus the fore his 'held and lthrownto and beneath the fstamfps, withi `out "any strainer weight being `ipu't Eupon the vibrating imechanism, 'and the feeder `returns 'toits "piace jagain after Aeach zmovementzbacb. wward, bylv'irtuefof its'weight.

wIn these 'respects my 1invention is fan-:iin-` provement over :feeders operated by means-ef fa tappeti i-rod `or bar, connected iat one tend @to `the feeddtroughlbyfbein'g 'raised-or etruc'k'by fthe i: stampfstem, faiso "serves 'to supporter hold also, than those .feeding the More `loya jarring or shaking nnotion, and, therefore, it fcan `be better adjusted to `feedthe ore in moredeiinite and regular quantities, as the motion of the feeder is a sliding one beneath and from under the ore, causing a quantity to drop 'from the `end fof the feederproportionate to the extent of motion of the feeder, and also causing n,the body-of ore upon itl to move forward over the curved bottom toward the -front of the feeder without any raising or lifting movement on the part of the feeder.`

Having thus fully 4described my `:invention andits mode of operation, what I claim therein as new, and desire, to secure by fetters Patent, is-

1. The combinatiomwvithfan oscillatingorelstamp feeder, havin g )its .bottom Aformedion the :arc of 1afeirc1e,fof 'an fore-hoppen ih'avfing the `"Da'ckiof lits discharging-mouth cur-vedlto cointhe purpose set forth. y l r l2. ",Theoscillating iore-v-stamp 'feeder tde- 'fscribed, `having its 'pivot placed ito lthe ltt-'ront .iside `of rthefcenter of ,@gravty, in@ combination "with the stampsjtemo 4that zwhen `iits:forward vendjisdepressed Shy-said stampstem rit will return to itsnorm'ai1position ibyits own .graviity, as and 'for the `purpoeefset forth.

F8. mheroscillating yorevstani'p feeder `descrifbed,"having tsibottomfiormed on thefarcfof -a circlefand `lhaving its 'ipivot Epl'aced `to fthe 1mation lwith the fstampstem, constructed :and

arranged, substantially as described `:and

shown. N y y y 4, v"iDhe'fco-m bifnation, with an oscillating fore- I-stampefeederwvth `:its A`bottom formed non `lthe arc of :aicirclewand having its pivots placed Ito @the 'front yside of the centen-of gravity, fof ra 4namnin, Haney feminism.

GHARLES SEDANFORD Inpresenceof- 4 K. SWIM, EDWARD E. t'OsnonN.` 

